One line in the article was the source for considerable outrage. The Globe reported:
The state’s public health commissioner, John Auerbach, said he believes the financial cost to school districts will be nominal, in part because many were already weighing and measuring students annually.
One school committee member from the North Shore wrote,
“Will Mr. Auerbach be paying for the postage to mail this information home, because due to HIPPA regulations, the letters cannot and should not be hand carried by students to the home. We will be cutting our postage budget line. And, I sat through a budget hearing the other night where we discussed making sure that parents and teachers know which brand and weight of paper will work in our copy machines because, since we’ll cut our supplies by 25%, we won’t have enough paper for our work and everyone is going to be asked to donate two reams of paper (to begin with). Yes, that is how ludacrous things are already getting.
School committee members are openly talking about ignoring this “mandate,” citing both the cost and the lack of authority of the health council over local school districts. School committee member Jeffrey Roy of Franklin included this detail in a recent blog post. Click the link for an even more extensive discussion of the issue.
The Council lacks authority over local school committees. By statute (G.L. c. 111, § 3), the Council “shall make and promulgate rules and regulations, take evidence in appeals, consider plans and appointments required by law, hold hearings, and discharge other duties required by law; but it shall have no administrative or executive functions.” This lack of administrative or executive functions calls into question the Council’s ability to tell local school committees what to do. Moreover, the proposed mandates appear to conflict with G.L. c. 71. § 37, which provides that School Committees shall have the power “to establish educational goals and policies for the schools in the district, consistent with the requirements of law and state-wide goals and standards established by the Board of Education.” (emphasis supplied). The Council rules and regulations are not established by the Board of Education and appear to go beyond what is set forth in G.L. c. 71, § 57.
The proposed regulations will violate students’ rights to privacy, will be embarrassing to children, and represent just one more parental responsibility being laid in the lap of public education.
The proposed regulations lack funding to implement the program and address the underlying problem of obesity. To make the regulations work districts will need to establish a system (computer software or otherwise) to calculate BMI, and to write and store letters to parents. Then each district will need to pay for printing the letters, the interpretive material, and the postage. For a district like Franklin with over 6,200 students, those are sizable expenses which will take away from other educational needs at a time when budgets are already strained. And once the problem is identified schools lack the resources to do anything about it.
The regulations duplicate the efforts of pediatric visits. Indeed, the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a policy statement strongly encouraging pediatricians “to incorporate assessment and anticipatory guidance about diet, weight, and physical activity into routine clinical practice…” And this would include BMI screening in a non-judgmental manner. And since Massachusetts already requires everyone to have health insurance, students can be screened by their own doctors in the privacy of the clinical setting.
The regulations do not provide means for addressing the problem of obesity. In communities throughout Massachusetts, budget cuts have led to the reduction and/or elimination of health and physical education programs. Thus, it is no surprise that we have an obesity problem. For something truly productive, the Council should provide funds so that the schools can offer more health and PE classes.
This one’s not over.
First, it is an unfunded mandate and anyone who doesn’t realize schools are stretched thin and believes this won’t cost “that much more” has their head in the sand. There’s the postage and admin cost of creating and mailing these reports. Then, there’s the fact that many schools have cut back on nurses, meaning these professionals are already being asked to do too much.
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p>Second, has anyone imagined what “weigh in” day would feel like to your typical adolescent? Imagine you are a 7th grade girl who stands heads and shoulders above her classmates. Sure, in five years you’ll be a star basketball player getting full-ride scholarship offers for basketball, but right now you do NOT need a day when everyone is going, “You are SO tall. How tall are you?” Ditto the smallest boy in class. Ditto the heaviest kid. Kids are competitive by nature. I’m a teacher and no matter how hard I try my students’ first impulse when they get a quiz back is to compare grades. Devoting a chunk of the school day (even once every few years) to weighing and measuring puts a very public focus on kids’ bodies. I don’t like that.
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p>Third, there’s the day after Mom and Dad get the BMI report. That conversation will go like this: “Hey, my folks got my BMI last night. It was 20. What’s yours? What do you think John’s is? Let’s go ask him. I bet it’s HUGE!” Again, it’s a focus on appearance we shouldn’t be foisting on our kids in the public setting that is a public school.
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p>The bottom line for me is privacy. As an adult, I expect and appreciate that my health is a private matter. Childhood obesity is a serious problem, but it’s a medical problem. The conversation around weight and healthy lifestyle choices belong in a pediatrican’s office, between parents, kid, and doctor. The schools should not be forced to do this and the kids should not be forced to endure the inevitable social issues that will ensue.
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p>Sorry for the long comment. I’m really upset over this one!
Everything in this proposal should be the responsibility of the parents, not the school.
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p>An entire generation of kids, myself included, went through local school systems across America without knowing our BMI or having the school nurse stick their nose into the affairs of the family. Why is it necessary today?
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p>The only major health program I can remember was distribution and administration of the breakthough oral polio vaccine (ahem, I date myself.) But I think that was a national endeavor.
and it would benefit from a community-level initiative.
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p>I’m sick of saying that when all you’ve got is a hammer everything looks like a nail, but that’s it in a nutshell. If there’s a problem, legislators, if they choose to address it, legislate. A kid gets killed on an ATV; they legislate. A kid gets killed firing a machine gun; they legislate. Kids get fat; they legislate.
Can’t wait til those mandatory helmet laws go into effect. Think I’ll buy one in yellow, red, blue, black, purple and don’t forget the knee pads.
Legislators should remove candy and soda machines from schools. Legislators should adjust school lunch guidelines so schools serve fewer meals that have been deep-fried in trans fats and more fresh vegetables and whole grains. They could legislate a minimum amount of recess time for more exercise.
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p>If colon cancer were a problem in America, we could legislate everyone get a colonoscopy every year–and that would not prevent the cancer. Granted, when you tell people they’ve got cancer, the threat of imminent death motivates them. But obesity is a threat that is far-off and less likely to light a fire under the person to exercise more and eat right. My experience is that telling 9th graders to do their algebra homework so they can graduate on time does not really motivate them. I expect if you told a 10th grader that losing weight would help them avoid heart attacks at age 40, they would motivate just as slowly.
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p>Unfit people already know they are unfit… they need an environment that makes it easier to get fit.
My school system is so controlling that even the faculty room doesn’t have soda or junk food. Much of the stuff in the school’s vending machines are low fat and often low sugar. We used to sell Gatorade, now we sell Vitamin water and Fruit2O. We don’t sell soda or juice.
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p>Part of the vending machine problem is that it’s hard to provide food that is not starch cooked in fat. And there is a need for snacks in school, during lunch, and particularly after school. I think they also sell Nestle’s Quik drinks, which have milk, but are extremely sugary.
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p>Our school lunches, in my opinion, suck. There’s one meal that consists of deep-fried French toast, hash browns, and no vegtable. I’ve also seen spaghetti, served with corn, and a bun. I think this is due, not to legislation, but costs and federal guidelines.During lunch, they also sell cookies with lower fat than pre-wellness policy, and some cold, sugared snacks like Italian ice.
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p>Still, I don’t think that the obesity problem is school lunch or vending machines. It’s what gets eaten out of school. Lunch programs are also complicated by the fact that most don’t break even and are constantly trying to figure out ways to make money.
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p>It’s my guess that the general lack of exercise (younger kids rarely outside like I did thirty-five years ago) is most responsible for the increase in obesity. Kids just aren’t active these days.
We had yearly physicals in the nurse’s office. Very embarrassing. I remember being absolutely humiliated. I was sent home with a “failure to thrive” notice (I still have the notice). The recommendation was a quart of whole milk daily. I was a tall slim child. AKA a string bean.
My biggest complaint with this is that this is not really the schools business. Parents of overweight children really don’t need the schools to inform them of the fact. Public health regulations already require periodic physical exams for students (105 CMR 200). Those physical exams are done by doctors who are best able to evaluate the individual circumstances and provide personalized advice or pointers to other resources. If the Public Health Council wants to do something productive, they should work with the doctors to make sure they are providing competent evaluation and sound advice.
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p>As a parent of an overweight child, I am offended by the idea that the schools need to inform me of the fact. My wife and I know it and we are dealing with it with the advice of our pediatrician.
but you can pretty much see when it’s a problem without a BMI. A child has to have a physical performed by a physician at the same intervals 1st, 4th, 7th, & 10th, so I think it should be left up to the child’s physician to do it. Make it a mandatory part of the school physical report that the MD has to fill out. Having the school do it also is just reduntant and wasteful.
Physicals are already required at different grade levels. Let the Docs do it.
Did you know that the probate and family courts now require attorneys to bring their own stamps in order to be send orders when a judge rules, later, on a motion?
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p>Did you know that in some schools, parents are supplying the paper because there is not enough money to create the handouts needed in classrooms?
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p>Do you think any parent does NOT already know if their child is over weight [I doubt it – I sure know].
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p>The weigh-ins when I was a kid in Michigan were humiliating, and led to bullying and playground fights.
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p>This is a BAD BAD BAD idea. All around.
I’m with Jeanne. This is an incredibly intrusive thing for the schools to do. Does one really think the weigh-in and measurements are going to be private?
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p>What of the “real bodies” meme that Dove is trying to spread? How can you possibly worry about one’s young daughter and her self-perceptions on one hand, and on the other hand say, well, BMI measurement is good for health!
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p>In college, I had occasion to take a health class, required of all students. One day, we were asked to measure our body fat with calipers (remember “pinch an inch”?) All the students of each sex would go in the restroom and pair off to take measurements.
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p>It was embarrassing!
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p>I hated it, yet I was (and am) a college student and an adult who could put up with it (just barely).
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p>I’m horrified that we would want to do this to young kids, and preteens who internalize their weight at a young age!
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p>We can expect to see more “anas” if this comes to pass. An epidemic of anorexics, stress and attempted suicides.
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p>You mean the one where all women are perfectly hairless and acne-free? Puh-leaze.
I’m totally surprised by how opposed all these comments have been. When I was in 4th grade they identified that I had a lisp, while all the other kids went to art, I had to go to a speech therapist. It was embarrassing – thank god my school decided it was their business to intervene. A friend had lice in third grade, they found it by running a fine comb through every kids hair. He was embarrassed – thank god my school decided it was their business to intervene. My mother’s school in the 1940’s insisted (although didn’t check) that children a) wear underwear b) change it at least every other day. I bet it was embarrassing for the kids who were too poor or whose families didn’t value hygiene enough to change their underwear at least every other day. Obesity is a public health risk, the schools are a perfectly legitimate place to deal with it, just as they have been a perfectly good place to deal with public health issues for years.
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p>Kids will be embarrassed? Developing diabetes or heart disease are real problems for obese children – while many parents are aware and take proactive steps to remedy the problem many don’t – if they did obesity wouldn’t be on the rise. What good does it do to teach children to read and write if they’re not taught to protect their bodies?
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p>This particular proposal might not be the best way forward, but I for one am thankful the school is looking out for more than just my kids brain.
others have addressed bullying & cost. Both of those are pretty darn important. I also agree that it’s intrusive. Quite frankly, if a kid can stand to gain/lose weight, I would think most parents would know — and, if not, doctors. Not every kid’s getting a physical? Well, maybe we should have universal health care.
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p>But moreover, BMI’s only work for some kids and people. For many, it just doesn’t, but it could help destroy confidence. This seems like a pretty bad idea to me. If we really want to make sure kids are getting their health checked, we should provide true universal health care and require yearly checkups for all kids and teens.
The WHO and the NIH both use BMI because it’s satisfactory and can be done cheaply.
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p>On Wikipedia, which generally agrees that BMI is a satisfactory measure, the source for the group arguing that it’s not a valid measure has this little tid bit:
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p>They hang their hat on the biggest problem with the BMI – it treats folks who are quite healthy and have a high muscle mass as overweight. I’m not worried about those kids, they’re healthy, they’re muscular and they know it, they’ll rightfully disregard this letter. So what about kids with eating disorders? My cursory look didn’t indicate that BMI was off for low weight, but I could be convinced if presented evidence.
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p>While writing this I remembered another embarrassing thing my school did – it took the arm fat measure. It was done in a discrete manner for every kid, far more embarrassing was the sit up test, climbing that damn rope and the pull up test, all done in public. I am thankful beyond belief I went to a public school that wasn’t afraid to say being healthy should be part of a child’s education. All this hand ringing is odd – shouldn’t the progressive want to make kids healthier?
Even if Letters of BMI to Kids weren’t a misuse of statistics it would be a waste of time.
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p>Why is it a misuse of statistics? Some statistical measures are meant for populations and don’t make sense for individuals. George W. Bush had an “overweight” BMI. Worst President In A Century, but you can’t call the man “overweight.” This is an anecdote, but there are statistical arguments questioning the value of BMI as applied to individuals.
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p>You could say the population of Louisiana has a higher BMI than the population of Vermont, and find correlations between BMI and illness such as diabetes in these two states, for instance. That would be a fair use of this statistic. Over a large population, different body types should be balanced out by the averaging, and the BMI would be more meaningful.
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p>A letter home to parents about a kid’s BMI would teach a misuse of statistics. Governor Mike Huckabee was a radio preacher before he became governor, and as such, probably doesn’t understand the wise use of scientific statistics. Let us not copy Arkansas in this policy.
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p>Also, for the few kids who skirt the border of anorexia, such a letter would push them over.
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p>It’s a bad idea, and I hope it is stopped.
Instead of issuing mandates let the Office of Health and Human Services propose reinstituting PE requirements and issue grants to school districts to fund it.
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p>Last thing school districts want or need right now are additional unfunded mandates. Especially while they are laying off teachers and increasing class sizes. There is a disconnect between members of the Patick administration and what is going on in the real world.
Yeah, that’s overweight. No question. Sure, there are people who meet those numbers who aren’t overweight — they’ve got 22″ pythons. GWB doesn’t. He’s just a middle aged man with a little too much around the middle, covered up quite nicely with tailored suits.
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p>Yeah, GWB was (is?) overweight. So are most of us. Being in the median doesn’t make you healthy. We’re a fat nation.
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p>While president, the guy broke 19 minutes for 5K. Do the math. An unfit or overweight person, BMI notwithstanding, couldn’t do that. BMI’s just one statistic of fitness.
I never claimed GWB wasn’t fit. I claimed he’s overweight. I also claim that one can be both at the same time. Being overweight isn’t just about heart and diabetes. It’s about stress on joints. It’s about being at a higher risk for cancer.
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p>I’m not claiming GWB is obese, fat, or even unhealthy. But come on, you don’t think if he was standing in front of you in his skivvies that you wouldn’t notice a few extra pounds in his middle? Those pounds certainly don’t have to be there, and for the vast majority of human history weren’t there on most people.
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p>And finally, for the record, GWB is overweight by definition. Overweight is defined as weighing more that what is ideal for their height and body frame. In GWB’s case (using the example above), he’s overweight by 11 pounds. It doesn’t mean he’s unhealthy or unfit, it means he’s overweight.
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p>That’s datum. It’s not information. You combine his BMI with other information to determine fitness.
is a legitimate use of statistics. The BMI is not an accurate statistic for comparison for some athletes with high muscle mass, that doesn’t make it an invalid statistic for those who have another body type, or for those athletes who are obese (of which there are many).
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p>BMI is a screen, it’s a valid screen. If you’ve got a high BMI it’s worth looking into your weight, it may or may not be a problem, but it’s worth looking at.
It’s with the unfunded part.
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p>Some of those mandates, like special ed, protect important educational goals. But boy do they cost a fortune, and that’s no exaggeration.
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p>The state caps revenues with one hand and sets expensive requirements with the other. Check out your public elementary school: got languages? Music? Art? It’s getting so that everything that is not mandatory is fiscally impossible.